The Path to Redemption
Personal experiences are unique for every individual. Not all experiences are pleasant, and for those with less than perfect childhoods, it can be painful to recall memories. At the same time, these reflections pave the path to redemption and resolution. Sigrid Nunez, an intriguing writer who draws significantly from her past to complete her novels, provides a generous and revealing account of her life in her first book, A Feather on the Breath of God. Her careful placing and choosing of specific events and recollections enriches her work, giving it the life it needs to thrive as not only a novel, but rather a hybrid genre of both fiction and biography.
The most refreshing and catching aspect of Nunez’s novel is her ability to overcome personal and social inhibition. She is unafraid to speak openly about the inaccessibility of her father, the roughness of her mother, or the lack of morality in her affair with a married Russian immigrant student. As a writer, she notes that she does not yearn for intimacy, instead she believes that too much is hidden and covert; an enlightened society would harbor no secrets. In her boldness and crafty way of implementing her thoughts, opinions, and experiences into her writing, Nunez’s style of essayistic reflection allows for readers and other writers to look within themselves too and bring out that which they have suppressed because of embarrassment, self- conflict, or any other circumstances.
On a night of celebration and refreshment at Baruch College, Nunez, currently the featured writer of the Harman Writers in Residence program, read from her latest book, The Last of Her Kind. In it, her literary talents and witty humor were preserved. Her presence in the room was a dignified one, and her voice was enchanting, the audience was completely mesmerized, a few hours could have passed without any complaint. Standing at the platform, Nunez, who had persevered despite her dysfunctional domestic life, showed that indeed, she had achieved the ideal lightness that she describes so vividly in her book through a career of writing and using past negativity to generate future optimism.